Online message boards and forums are online discussion sites where learners can hold discussions in the form of short posts. They allow for learners to collaborate and discuss various themes under varied categories. Besides, learners can also give positive and negative vote on various posts. In some platforms, external selected stakeholders, can be given access to the outputs and permission to comment on them.
Since most LMSs (e.g., Edmodo, Moodle, Canvas and Google Classroom) offer access to built-in discussion forums, teachers can easily use them for assessment purposes. Educators should clearly design the forum’s/board’s theme (and subthemes) and organise the forum’s/board’s structure. It may also be advantageous to boost discussion with questions or inspiring/controversial statements.